Impact behavior of sugarcane bagasse waste–EVA composites

The impact performance of chopped bagasse–EVA matrix composites is evaluated and compared with the behavior of bagasse filled PP and PE matrix composites and wood-based materials. The volume fraction and size of the chopped bagasse used as filler was varied. The experimental results show that the incorporation of bagasse strongly reduces the deformation capacity of EVA polymer. The reduction of the deformation capacity of the composites was also inferred by solid-state NMR relaxation analysis. The impact strength was independent of the bagasse size, but varied with the volume fraction. As a function of the volume fraction it was shown that the mechanical performance of bagasse–EVA composites could be tailored to reproduce the behavior of wood-based particle boards.